


The Truth May Not Set You Free (but I Sure as Hell Will)

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, F/M, Slow Burn, spy AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-10
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-03 17:41:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4109470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco and Hermione are rivals working for different agencies but when they get assigned to the same case they decide 2 heads must be better than one. Together they begin to unravel the truth and maybe sort of kinda fall in love at the same time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dingy

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm super excited to be writing this and I hope you love it just as much as I do. There will definitely be more hp characters and ships coming into the story but some of them will be a surprise so I'll only add new ones after they show up. ALSO I chose to not use Archive warnings because I don't 100% have all the plot figured out so at the moment I don't need to use any but I might in the future. Sorry!

Draco moved quietly, staying in the shadows as much as possible and being careful of who was around when it wasn't. Industrial London wasn't the type of place you wanted to be at this time of night, which is exactly what made it desirable for the type of shady business he was conducting. He stopped outside a large warehouse and took a quick look around before rapping on the door three times in quick succession. The door opened slightly and Draco slipped in.

The inside always threw him off simply because it was the opposite of what one would a expect a abandoned warehouse in a shitty part of town to look like except for the lighting issue they'd been trying to fix for years. The room was dotted with plush black arm chairs and dark wood coffee tables adorned with lamps that, obviously, were more for style than functionality since most of them weren’t even turned on let alone emitting enough light to make a difference in the dingy room.

Draco headed towards the back of the room avoiding the questioning glances just as much as the full tables and couches. He never quite seemed to fit in here, his blonde hair always glowing under the pale lights, his suit always looking a little too nice compared to the rest of them but it was still an unchanging meeting point. Which, considering what he did for a living, was probably not the best idea but his handler was impartial to the place

He approached the guard, a bald man that must have stood well over 6 feet tall and gave him the password he had received earlier that day. The man's expression didn't change from one of disinterest as he opened the large metal door and let Draco in.

The room he walked into was small with just barely enough room to fit two of the same arm chairs and end tables as the main room and mini bar. The lighting was slightly better but more than likely simply because of the smaller size.

"Draco, my boy, how very good to see you!" said a short man with salt and pepper hair and a desperate attempt at goatee walking towards him with his arms outstretched. Draco smiled politely knowing he was about to get pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Good to see you too, Leo. For a while there I wasn't sure I ever would again."

"You only wish you could get that lucky." He said, his trademark grin spreading across his face.

"I wasn't gonna say it but..." Draco trailed off with a shrug.

Leo pulled him into a hug with a laugh but pulled back quicker than normal. "Id love to sit and chat but we have to get down to business. Can I get you something to drink?"

"Just a beer would be great. Thanks, mate." Draco said before making his way to one of the large, plush armchairs in the centre of the small room. Leo placed an opened beer bottle on the end table beside and sat down across from him.

“Still don’t trust me to open one by myself, huh?” Draco asked lifting the bottle to his lips.

“Not after what happened last time. You nearly blew your cover just by how hard you were laughing.” Leo said an amusing tone finding it’s way into his voice.

“Does it make me sound old if I say those were the good old days? Also are you getting more grey or id that just my eyes playing tricks on me?” Draco hid his grin with another sip while the older man pressed his lips into a white line.

“I’m sure that’s just your eyes playing tricks on you, Malfoy. I look the same as I always have. Anyways, onto the mission.” He said, suddenly changing track more than likely to hide his uncomfortableness about his own aging.

“Ah yes, work, work work. Where will I be going this time?” Draco asked as eager as ever to start a new case.

“Germany. It seems someone within the German government is selling secrets about their newly formed alliance with England. We’re gonna need you to find out who and stop them by any means necessary. Everything else you need to know will be in this file.” Leo told him as he reached under the table beside him and pulled out a thick manila envelope. “I’d like to warn you about opening this one before you get back to wherever you’re staying. There’s some high level stuff in there that absolutely cannot get out. Understand?”

Draco nodded and took the envelope before standing up and slipping in inside the jacket he was wearing. He took the last swig of his beer and, knowing Leo’s weird traditions, broke the bottle on the end table before turning to look at the older man. “It was nice to see you again. I’ll get in touch as soon as possible.”

Leo nodded and shook his hand. “Good to see you too, Draco. Take care.”

Draco smirked. “Don’t I always?”

Leonard muttered something under his breath as Draco left but he ignored it, instead reveling in the cool breeze coming off the Thames. 

*****

20 minutes later and Draco was in the hotel room he’d gotten for the night pulling the envelope from his jacket. He tossed it on the desk and pulled his jacket off before sitting down and opening it. He skimmed the files quickly making notes in his mind of names and dates before realizing his plane for Germany took off at 8am.

He turned and looked at the clock to discover that it was currently 1:27am. He groaned and rubbed a hand over his face before flicking off the lamp sitting on his desk.He tucked all the files back in the envelope and tucked the envelope itself into one of the hiding spots he’d made in his previous visits to this particular hotel before crawling into bed.


	2. Gingerly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank my wonderful beta [elicitillicit](http://elicitillicit.tumblr.com)!

Draco groaned and rolled over, hitting the button of the blaring alarm clock in the process. The clock proudly displayed, in bright green numbers, that it was 7am. Draco didn't remember setting an alarm—and certainly not one for so early—but now that he was awake, he figured that he might as well get up. 

After showering and getting dressed Draco removed the file from its hiding spot and began going over it once again. As he was reviewing the information over a cup of room service coffee, however, he realized that something pretty crucial had been excluded from the dossier. Feeling both curious and a little annoyed, he decided to call Leo.

The phone rang thrice before the older man picked up, laughing at something happening on his end. "Hello?"

"Leo? It's Draco. I have a question about this job that you gave me last night."

"Okay, let's have it." Leo murmured, probably in an attempt to not let the other people he was with overhear his conversation.

"What exactly is the information that was been leaked?" Draco questioned.

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to tell you that. Otherwise it would have been with the file. Someone up top doesn't want one of the little guys like you knowing what the enemy knows. The only reason I'm allowed to know is because I had to decide whether I wanted to give you this job or not. Believe me when I say it's serious stuff that's been leaked but any of the British employees working there would have access to the information if they wanted it." 

"So i don't even get all the information for my own case?" Draco asked, sounding angry.

"Unfortunately not."

Draco groaned in resignation. "Okay, thanks anyway I suppose."

"Remember; your plane leaves in 45 minutes." Leo said before hanging up. 

Draco ran his hand through his hair, resisting the urge to groan once more, and stood up. He got dressed, threw the sweatpants and t-shirt he had worn to bed in his suitcase, placed the file on top, and left the room.

****

The 5-hour flight to Berlin seemed to take no time at all especially compared to the amount of time it took him just to get a taxi. He gave the man at the front desk of the hotel he was supposed to be staying at his pre-assigned alias and was handed a room key and informed that he was on the second floor. Draco, finding himself still frustrated by the incompleteness of the information given to him, decided to take the stairs up in hopes of working out the irritation before his interview in 30 minutes.

The first thing Draco noticed about the hotel room was the eerie silence that laid thick and heavy in the air as soon as the door thudded closed. He sauntered over to the bad and dumped his suitcase atop it before starting his customary examination of the room. 4 years in the business had taught Draco a lot about many different things—some of which were not exactly material for dinner conversations—but the biggest lesson it had taught was that hotel staff did not make enough money to truly be trusted. After going over the room five times and being fully content in the idea that the room was not bugged he pulled out his phone and dialed Leo’s number. 7 rings later and Draco was greeted by Leo’s voice inviting him to leave a message. He did before placing the phone on the small wooden desk and pulling his work clothes out of his suitcase.

*****

10 minutes later he was outside in the cold Berlin air waiting for yet another taxi. He glanced at his watch just as one pulled up and realized he had only 15 minutes to get to the parliament building for his interview; knowing that anything that made you stand out was a bad idea in his line of work, he slipped the driver a 20 with the instructions to go as fast as possible while noting to himself to exchange his Pounds for Euros.

The car pulled up in front of a large building that resembled a castle with what appeared to be a glass dome at the back with five minutes to spare; Draco paid the man without bothering to do any form of conversion and headed for the front door at a brisk pace. The inside had the same old world sort of appearance along with the typical hushed atmosphere of parliament buildings everywhere. He introduced himself to the secretary and informed him that he had an appointment with Ms. Braun before being told to take a seat as the nameless young man traipsed down the hallway behind his desk.

Draco stood as he returned with a plump woman about Draco’s age with dark skin, dark brown corkscrew curls and warm brown eyes. Her hand shake was firm and professional as she invited Draco into her office.

“So Mr. Mallet, I read in your file that you’re from England. What brings you to Berlin?” Her voice was high but pleasant as Draco took a seat in one of the large chairs in front of her desk.

He silently cursed himself for not quickly going over the file he’d been given with his expertly constructed back story but, realizing just sitting there without answering would only raise suspicions, he recalled what he could and made up the rest. “Well, my father passed away recently and he was the only living relative that I actually acknowledge and I’ve wanted to live in Germany for years so I decided there was no better time than now. Plus a little birdie back home told me that the German government was looking to hire.”

“You must have excellent contacts.” She commented sounding almost amused. “We didn’t exactly post a listing on Craigslist.”

Draco forced himself to laugh a little. “I’m generally great with people so they tend to trust me. It’s something I got from my father.”

“Was he also an agent? Or just a politician?”

“Neither, actually. Just an aristocrat who knew how to get what he wanted. I’ve been told that, in his youth he also had a great deal of sex appeal but I try not to think about that too hard.”

He watched the smile on her face go from genuine to tip lipped as soon as the word aristocrat escaped his mouth and he stopped himself from sneering. The one thing that always bothered him about people was their automatic presumptions about him based completely on the fact that his father was a wealthy man.

“I see.” She said stiffly and looked back at the file on her desk with a harsh scrutiny. “Well,” A pause as her eyes flickered over lines of text. “You’ve definitely got a great resume and you seem to be a decent person so why don’t I schedule you an interview with the head of our department and we can go from there.”

Draco offered up a smile and went to say something about how that sounded great as an older man strolled through the office door behind him.

“Ah, Mr. Slughorn, I was just about to call you.” Braun said as she stood up. “This is Drake Mallet. He’s applying for the position we have open. Mr. Mallet, this is Horace Slughorn the head of the department.”

“Nice to meet you, my boy.” Slughorn shook his hand as he stood up. “Unfortunately, I’m about to go to a meeting so right now doesn’t work for me interview-wise. How about tomorrow at 1? Does that work for you?”

“Absolutely.” Draco told him with a smile.

“Delightful!” He exclaimed, beaming. “I’ll see you then. Now, Lavender, I needed to know if you have those transcripts ready for me? You know how Alfred can get.”

“Yes, I do.” She turned around and pulled a file off the large stack behind her and handed it to him with a smile.

“Thank you.” He murmured, tucking it under his arm. “Why don’t I show you out, Mr. Mallet? I’m already heading that way.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you.” Draco replied, reaching for his briefcase. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Braun.” He offered her his hand and she shook it gingerly, a complete contrast to their first one in the waiting area. Draco made himself suppress his reaction to the vague contempt in her eyes as he left.


End file.
